I’ve never been an Android lover, it’s always been Apple when it comes to my mobile phone which is forever in my back pocket or glued to my hand. Android or iOS has been a fierce debate for many years, with the softwares competing for consumer’s attention in whatever way they possibly can.

Nowadays this once hot topic has appeared to slow down especially due to advances in technology, with the Samsung Galaxy’s and Google Pixel’s rivalling the likes of the Apple iPhone.

But there is one thing that these big tech giants sometimes forget about. The price. With the cost of living rising and many Britons now cutting back on life’s luxuries, many are changing to cheaper deals, whether that’s by not renewing to a shinier handset, or simply changing their contract to a less costly SIM only deal.

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This is where Nokia comes in. Nokia have recently released the C21 Plus, available at the budget-friendly price of £109.99. The device forms part of Nokia’s “value first” strategy plan, one that’s dominating the budget end of the smartphone market.

The phone, which is part of Nokia’s C-series family, uses Android 11 Go, which is a tailored version of Google’s mobile OS for low-power devices. It means the phone launches with tweaked ‘Go’ versions of Google’s applications, such as Chrome, Maps and Gmail. Nokia says the device also comes with two years of quarterly security updates.

I’ve reviewed the C21 Plus for over a week to see how I would get on without my iPhone. I want to add that though, that I don’t think it’s fair to compare the device to the iPhone but there are some things that stand out with the Nokia that the iPhone lacks, and vice versa, here are my thoughts:

Look, design and set up

The back of the Nokia C21 Plus
(Image: Gemma Sherlock)

First impressions when opening the Nokia is how sleek the device is. It has a 6.5” HD display and weighs 191 grams, slightly heavier than my iPhone 12, only by 27 grams but strangely feels lighter to hold, perhaps because of its thinner shape, with a 8.5mm thinness which Nokia say is designed to fit better in your hand.

The screen is also bigger than the iPhone and it makes viewing pictures and reading news articles easier for me, especially for work. It comes in a Cyan colour which isn’t my favourite but equally it’s not the end of the world either because the colour can only be seen from the back of the handset.

Set up was really easy although I was surprised that the device needed not only a SIM card (that’s normal obviously) but a memory card too. I’ve been so used to having Apple phones for so long that I didn’t realise this was still a thing.

The device comes with 2GB of RAM and just 32GB of internal space so you’ll definitely need a memory card inserted if you’re planning to use a lot of apps, take a lot of photos and more. The C21 Plus takes any micro SIM card and micro SD card, supporting memory up to 256 GB.

Because the Nokia uses Google’s mobile OS, which facilitates snappy download speeds, without sacrificing the signature all-day battery life, you’re guided through Google on set up. What’s also handy is that during set-up your email and contacts can be synced from Google if you previously used Gmail and other Google docs, drive spaces and more on a former device.

My favourite thing about the Nokia C21 Plus has to be the fingerprint button on the back of the device. You can unlock the phone by Al face unlock technology on the front of the screen too, for a swift and secure log-in, but the fingerprint on the back is a nice option to keep your screen clean.

Downloading apps were a little slower than usual though, it took ten minutes for the device to download five apps, they were news site apps but I would of expected a slightly quicker speed.

Battery

Some of the app display on the Nokia C21 Plus
(Image: Gemma Sherlock)

Nokia boasts the C21 Plus battery life lasts for days, two days in fact, and it’s one of the main selling points of the phone: “With a 4000 mAh battery, delivering two-day battery life from a single charge – allowing you to stay connected for longer.”

Powered by a Unisoc SC9863A processor, the C21 Plus battery lasted just under two days for me, around 40 hours. I used it less in the day though and more in the evening. The phone is also quite responsive and fast to navigate, particular when switching from app to app and closing apps down.

The phone has a micro-USB charging port at the bottom and the charging speeds are slightly poor to be honest. It took me just over two hours to get the phone from dead to fully charged. The phone does come with the charging cable though which is a big plus because not every mobile company has the charge included in the box.

Camera

When describing the camera Nokia says: “The 13MP dual camera with HDR technology captures memorable moments in stunning detail, whilst different modes like Portrait, Panorama and Beautification assist in creating professional-looking photos you can keep forever.”

The camera has been the major downfall for me though. It’s the one thing that lets the device down and actually made me miss my iPhone. Again, this is not a comparison between the two devices as I don’t think that’s fair, but I would need a better camera on the C21 Plus to get me to stick with it.

My dog Evie pictured using the iPhone 12 camera
(Image: Gemma Sherlock)

It’s a simple set with a 5MP front camera and a 13MP main and 2MP depth camera which does the job well but not to a high quality. I take a lot of pictures, and I use my camera on my phone every day, mainly snapping my dog doing something daft, so for me this is a big turn off.

You can see the quality difference between the two pictures above and below.

Evie using the Nokia C21 Plus camera
(Image: Gemma Sherlock)

I do like the smile detection on the camera though and the ability to change the screen size from a 4:3 size to a 16:9 or a full screen.

Overall verdict

Overall the Nokia C21 Plus didn’t persuade me to Android. However, it did give me some breathing space. What I mean by that is because the phone has a sleek feel, a simple set up and a big screen with clear graphics and easy navigation, I felt I could go onto the phone and find what I needed straight away, whereas on my iPhone apps can look too squashed together and just holding onto the home screen for too long can cause apps to move about or even delete – I didn’t have that with the Nokia.

Lets face it though, if you’re getting this phone you’re not buying it for the camera. You’re purchasing it for its simplicity, it does what it says on the tin and is a decent phone for exactly what you need when you need it.

The price of the device is a big win too. Yes you have to get a MICRO SD card but these are relatively cheap anyway, starting from just £6.99 on Amazon. I would love it more if it came in a different colour though and had some camera improvements. Other than that I found the device to be a nice break from the iPhone.

You can get it here.

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Source: https://www.birminghammail.co.uk/whats-on/reviews/tried-out-budget-nokia-c21-24728791